John O’Donohue wrote blessings. This poem weaves in and out as in a mystical and mysterious way. The poem is a journey itself and offers insight into the idea that each moment we live we experience the newness of time.
We often forget, as adults, that nature does not measure time with a clock. It just exists in a continuous movement that is whole in each present moment that holds all of history and all imagined future. In the blink of an eye, it is gone and replaced with a brand new moment.
When we pause and look inward, we find the territories of the spirit that secure us in our lives. Each moment, we visit reminds of the last, but holds it in its wholeness, as well.
Every time you leave home,
Another road takes you
Into a world you were never in.
New strangers on other paths await.
New places that have never seen you
Will startle a little at your entry.
Old places that know you well
Will pretend nothing
Changed since your last visit.
When you travel, you find yourself
Alone in a different way,
More attentive now
To the self you bring along,
Your more subtle eye watching
You abroad; and how what meets you
Touches that part of the heart
That lies low at home:
How you unexpectedly attune
To the timbre in some voice,
Opening in conversation
You want to take in
To where your longing
Has pressed hard enough
Inward, on some unsaid dark,
To create a crystal of insight
You could not have known
You needed
To illuminate
Your way.
When you travel,
A new silence
Goes with you,
And if you listen,
You will hear
What your heart would
Love to say.
A journey can become a sacred thing:
Make sure, before you go,
To take the time
To bless your going forth,
To free your heart of ballast
So that the compass of your soul
Might direct you toward
The territories of spirit
Where you will discover
More of your hidden life,
And the urgencies
That deserve to claim you.
May you travel in an awakened way,
Gathered wisely into your inner ground;
That you may not waste the invitations
Which wait along the way to transform you.
May you travel safely, arrive refreshed,
And live your time away to its fullest;
Return home more enriched, and free
To balance the gift of days which call you.
ivonprefontaine
Teacher as Transformer 
Reblogged this on rennydiokno.com.
Thank you for the re-blog.
I adore John O Donohue. Strangely I have just bought myself 3 of his books that I did not have, which all arrived yesterday. John O Donohue is a master with words, but more…he is a shelter and refuge that calms and realigns us in this strange old world and gently guides us back to ourselves.
I like that: “a shelter and refuge that calms.” That is well-put,
I have some travel in my future, this willhelp give me a new perspective
It does at that.
Thank you so much for sharing! How timely and apropos. I’ve always wondered how he wrote~ this is my first encounter. Sublime.
Most of his poems are shorter, but I liked this one.
It is a lovely, profound prayer. Am so glad you posted.
As you can well imagine, this gypsy loves to travel anywhere, anytime. The thrill comes from not knowing what excitement or adventure is around the next bend.
It is the proverbial road less traveled.
Of course, I love this! Wonderful and captures the importance of travel for the heart, soul and mind~
He captured that so well.
This poem thoughtfully answers the question, “Does travel change you.”
Very Nice Poem.